The secret weapon to select the best candidates from every political party slate. This means you don't have to necessarily worry about candidates getting a major party nomination in order to be on the ballot. Is this idea worthy of consideration by Unity08? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_fusion#United_States
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Electoral fusion is an arrangement where two or more political parties support a common candidate, pooling the votes for all those parties. By offering to endorse a major party's candidate, minor parties can influence the candidate's platform.
Electoral fusion was once widespread in the United States. In the late 19th century, however, as minor political parties such as the People's Party became increasingly successful in using fusion, Republican-dominated state legislatures enacted bans against it. One Republican Minnesota state legislator was clear about what his party was trying to do: "We don't propose to allow the Democrats to make allies of the Populists, Prohibitionists, or any other party, and get up combination tickets against us. We can whip them single-handed, but don't intend to fight all creation." (Spoiling for a Fight, 227-228). The creation of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party made this particular tactical position obsolete. By 1907 the practice had been banned in 18 states; today, fusion as conventionally practiced remains legal in only seven states, namely:
Connecticut
Delaware
Idaho
Mississippi
New York
South Carolina
Vermont
In several other states, notably Pennsylvania, fusion is legal when primary elections are won by write-in candidates.
Fusion has the highest profile in New York, where it was a major weapon against Tammany Hall. Small parties significant in large part for their fused ballot lines include the Working Families Party, Right to Life Party, Liberal Party, Independence Party, and Conservative Party. Most judicial elections are won by candidates endorsed by more than two parties.
The cause of electoral fusion suffered a major setback in 1997, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided by 6-3 in Timmons v. Twin Cities Area New Party that fusion is not a constitutionally protected civil right.
Fusion has sometimes been used by other third parties. For example, the Libertarian Party used fusion to elect four members of the New Hampshire state legislature during the early 1990s.
In 1864 the Democratic Party split into two wings, over the peace question. The War Democrats fused with the Republicans to elect a Democratic Vice President, Andrew Johnson, and re-elect a Republican President, Abraham Lincoln.
Occasionally, popular candidates for local office have succeeded in being nominated by both Republican and Democratic Parties. In 1946, prior to the current ban on fusion being enacted in that state, Republican California Governor Earl Warren (a future Chief Justice of the United States) managed to win the nominations of the Republican, Democratic, and Progressive Parties.
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"The government that robs Peter to pay Paul will always have the support of Paul"